Post After Post-Mortem: An Oxfordshire Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac

Author:E.C.R. Lorac [Lorac, E.C.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: literary mystery, bibliomystery, traditional British mystery, whodunit, golden age mystery, bookish mystery, 1930s mystery
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Published: 2022-02-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter X

When Macdonald decided to walk from Upwood House to the post-box shortly after midnight, he was simply putting into practice a theory of his own to the effect that if you want to see what a person might observe during a midnight walk, it was better to cover the ground at the same time that they had done rather than to inspect it at noonday. It certainly seemed probable that Richard Surray was right in his conjecture that Ruth posted her letter to him some time after the household had gone to bed. Macdonald, unknown to the Surrays, was prowling round the garden soon after eleven. He watched the lights being extinguished and noticed that the servants, who occupied the top storey, had all put their lights out by the time he arrived. A light went on burning in the Professor’s study until midnight, and there were still two lighted windows on the first floor when Macdonald made his silent way round the house, until he reached the small conservatory door. From here he struck across the garden and out into the paddock, whose lower gate gave on to the lane leading to the high road and to the village. Using his imagination, because he had no other guide, he thought that this lane would have been a likely enough spot for Naomi to meet Brandon (if any of his guesses had hit the mark). Out of earshot of the house, and remote from traffic at that hour, it would have served their purpose admirably. Hither then came Ruth, but to make sense of the rest of the story, Montague must have walked with her—or was he behind her? Arguing the matter out at every step, Macdonald reached the junction of lane and high road; there was a cottage here, and a watchdog barked and rattled his chain as the quiet footsteps passed; a good watchdog that. Had he barked on that Sunday night?

There was only one other house to be passed before the pillar-box was reached, and Macdonald arrived there almost simultaneously with another man. The Chief Inspector flashed a light on him at once and saw Dr. Saunders, with a Dalmatian puppy at his heels. In reply to the doctor’s expostulation, Macdonald switched the beam off, after having first let it play on his own face.

“What the deuce are you up to at this hour?” demanded the doctor irately. (No man likes to be the target of an unexpected flash lamp.)

“What you might expect,” replied Macdonald. “I’m really looking for some one who is in the habit of posting letters at midnight. Did you post any about this time on Sunday night the 29th?”

“I did, but I expect that I was earlier than this,” replied Saunders. “I generally go to the post at eleven, and take this hound for a walk. What about it?”

“Did you meet anybody or anything while you were out that Sunday evening?”

“Good Lord, how on earth do you expect me to remember?”

“I wish you’d try,” said Macdonald.

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